


As Boundless as the Sea

by SpaceWaffleHouseTM



Series: One Shots from the Waffle House [24]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Romeo and Juliet Fusion, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Mentions of Smut, No Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22690453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWaffleHouseTM/pseuds/SpaceWaffleHouseTM
Summary: Padmé survives and raises her kids, but decades later her grandson meets the granddaughter of the man who took everything from her at a masquerade, and sparks fly. Upon realizing who the other is, the two must make an impossible choice: risk losing the love of their families, or risk losing the possibility of loving each other.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: One Shots from the Waffle House [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1298357
Comments: 26
Kudos: 140
Collections: For one is both and both are one in love: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	As Boundless as the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crossingwinter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossingwinter/gifts).



> Was jonesing through the treat prompts and this just caught my eye and I HAD TO. Hope you enjoy it, babe, I had fun writing it 💖

The lighting was impossibly low on the balcony, low enough that one had to squint to see anything even in the torchlight. Yet as Ben made his way down the brief aisle onto the deck overlooking the lake, he could still see the dress of the mysterious woman who’d caught his eye at the party, could still see the elegant array of colors glistening off of her gown as it shone in the moonlight. She looked like a sunset or maybe a fire, like something from a dream. 

Something magical had happened to him when he’d seen her inside, when they’d danced together and he’d held her warm body close to his, and felt as if his entire body was on fire. 

Now he looked at her, watching her back as her shoulders heaved with each breath. It made sense, she’d run away from him rather abruptly, her feet carrying her faster than anyone’s had the right to as she held her mask tightly to the crown of her head. She’d almost frightened him with how fast she’d run, but he understood it, her running made sense. 

He recalled the moment he’d learned her name was Rey, spoken to him as they talked during their close dance, which had allowed him to see for the first time just who she was in spite of the intricate masks they were both wearing. His grandmother’s ball had provided a prime opportunity for him to reach out and meet people without having to reveal his identity, without having to talk about his parents. 

Of course the one person he’d met, talked to, and started to form a connection with was from the one family he could never associate with—of course Rey was a kriffing Palpatine. The universe just had to be that cruel to him. After nearly thirty years, he’d finally found someone he thought he might’ve had a bond with and she was the one person he would be absolutely forbidden from ever marrying. 

At least, she was the one person he couldn’t marry if he ever wanted Padme or his mother to speak to him again. 

Still, he had to try. He needed her to know that he didn’t care who she was. Maybe she was a Palpatine and he was a Skywalker. Who cared? What they’d developed on the dance floor in his grandmother’s mansion was special, more powerful than any old family rivalry. 

“Are you all right?” he asked, unsure of what else to say as he stepped out onto the balcony with her. Did she even want to talk to him? How close was he allowed to get?

Scoffing, Rey gripped the railing tightly enough that her knuckles turned white. “We shouldn’t talk.”

“You rather enjoyed talking with me five minutes ago,” he pointed out, then he laughed. “Of all people I could possibly meet—“

“I had to meet a Solo?” she asked, whirling around to face him, her skirts swishing out around her as she looked him dead in the eye. “I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

The corners of his mouth pulled up into a grim smile as he crossed his arms over his chest, the slightly too snug tunic he wore protesting against his muscles while he tried desperately to think of where to go from there. He liked this woman. For the first time in a long time, he’d found someone whose wit matched his own and possibly even surpassed it, someone who made him laugh and didn’t care that his laughter wasn’t exactly attractive, someone who made him want to drop everything just for the chance to speak to her. This was someone impossible, someone good, but she was a Palpatine, and their families had hated each other since his grandparents had been his age. 

Padme would order him disowned if they’d learned he’d even spoken to her. They’d only invited the Palpatine's to this gala to prevent an all out war. It was only for propriety’s sake. They weren’t actually supposed to speak to one another, but when everyone was wearing masks and he had no idea what the heir to the Emperor’s throne sounded like, of course a messy situation like this had arisen. 

“You’re much kinder than I expected,” Rey said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. “All I’ve ever heard from my grandfather is that the Skywalkers are snakes; bitter, slithery snakes who must be squashed like bugs upon sight.”

“And all  _ I  _ have ever heard of Palpatines is that you’re vicious, conniving nightmares, but you seem genuine,” he replied, then he straightened his back, and took a cautious step toward her. “Maybe neither of our families are what they seem.”

“I’ve heard what your grandfather did. The younglings at the temple?”

“And what about yours? He’s the one who turned him,” he reminded her. “And you must know how my grandfather turned back in the end. Anakin Skywalker was a flawed man, but he wasn’t pure evil.”

“He nearly killed my grandfather.”

“Come now, surely you can’t be that upset about it. I know he isn’t exactly the kindest relative. He certainly wasn’t bouncing your father on his knee when he was a boy.”

She was scowling at him, but even through her dark gaze, he could tell he’d gotten through to her, that he’d made a point. “Perhaps.”

Tongue darting out to wet his lips, Ben couldn’t fight back the smirk he felt growing, then he chanced another step forward, relieved when she neither rushed away nor moved toward him. “We aren’t them. You are not the Emperor. I am not Darth Vader.” He reached out a hand for her, his lips pressing together as he swallowed nervously, wondering if she’d take it. “You were about to kiss me before you realized who I was. I’m still the man who made you laugh, I’m still the same person I was before the mask came off. I’m the person you nearly kissed, I’m not your enemy no matter what our families might think.” 

Shaking her head, she moved forward from the railing, her red lips parting as she took a shuddering, slow breath. “No, you’re not,” she said in agreement, then she took another step, invading the outer reaches of his space as she looked down at the hand outstretched before her. “But I can’t ignore your last name, and I know you can’t ignore mine. It doesn’t work that way.”

“No one needs to know,” he whispered, then he took a half-step towards her. “But we owe it to ourselves to see what this is between us. We need to know if it’s worth the risk.”

“Are you proposing we start an affair? We’d both be ruined if anyone finds out.”

“By some standards, we’re already ruined just for sharing a dance,” he said, then he shook his head again. “Rey, we have everything to lose if we do this, but I also believe we have so much more to gain if this turns out to really be something. So what do you say? Will you join me, or should I walk away?”

There was another pause, then Rey reached up, and removed the mask that was still resting in her hair from when she’d removed it, setting it down on the railing behind her. “Remove yours and you can finish what you started in there.”

Without another moment’s hesitation, Ben removed his mask from his hair, letting it dangle from his wrist as she took his hand, and pulled him in close, just like when they’d been dancing. Distant music drifted into his ears, not quite loud enough to dance to but loud enough for him to remember what it felt like all the same. “So you’re in?”

Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, Rey nodded, leaning in close enough that his eyelids were nearly forced to close so that he could look at her, and her breath ghosted over his lips. A few more tense seconds passed like that, neither of them willing to breathe for fear of breaking it, but then he felt her lips pull into a smile as he placed a hand on her cheek, caressing her as she finally answered him. “Yes,” she whispered, then she leaned forward, closing the gap between them as she sealed their promise with a kiss. 

Adrenaline burned like a fire in his veins, his body feeling alight with electric energy as her lips began to move against his in an open-mouthed kiss that stole not only the air from his lungs but the thoughts from his mind. He was blank, his mind spinning with so many thoughts it became white space again as one of his arms snaked around her waist, and he pulled her tight against him. 

This was paradise, he thought as he became light-headed from the lack of oxygen. It was sheer perfection, pure joy, and he wondered how something so forbidden, so ingrained in his blood as something wrong could feel so much like destiny. If this kiss was discovered by anyone, let alone his parents, they both risked losing everything. 

And yet this was everything he’d ever wanted—her soft lips against his tasted like a mixture of the champagne from the party and something sweeter and more fine than any desert his family’s riches had ever allowed him to taste. She felt warm and firm beneath his hands, and he found himself wanting to run them everywhere, wanting to touch her everywhere. A tiny moan escaped her as his tongue swept along the line of her lower lip, and he wondered what other sounds he could get her to make with it. Would she like that? Would she want him between her legs with his tongue? His hands? His cock? Would they have to sneak off to the farthest reaches of Naboo or even the galaxy itself just to prevent their families from finding out?

They’d just sealed their fates with this kiss, but he could only hope that however this ended it wouldn’t be in tragedy, that they’d one day get to hold hands beneath a shining, golden sun, and declare to the world that they were in fact together. For now, though, this was only the beginning, and in the beginning?

This was very much  _ forbidden.  _


End file.
